Session of the Indonesian People’s Representative Council (public domain, source: wikipedia.org) WHILE Malaysians are excited by the prospect of three simultaneous by-elections on 7 April 2009, Indonesians next door are showing distinctive signs of electoral fatigue. A news report featured on Indonesia’s Trans7 TV channel summed up the prevailing mood when it reported on a […]
authoritarian
Islamic authorities in crisis?
By Shanon ShahWHEN the National Fatwa Council issued two successive fatwas in late 2008 banning tomboys and yoga, outcry from the Malaysian public was palpable. Tomboys sneered, youth collectives protested, and Muslim yoga practitioners posed in defence. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the National Fatwa Council, and even Inspector General of […]
